[The D’Alliance] The Bright Side of Brutality
In an article in yesterday’s New York Times, Mexican president Vicente Fox is confident that the his country’s drug war will be won:
“We are going to win the battle against insecurity,” he said, pounding his fist on a table. “It is a frontal war. It is a permanent fight. It is going to take time, but we are going to win.”
This statement begs the question as to whether a permanent fight is winnable, or an end in itself. The violence along the U.S.-Mexico border — especially that in Nuevo Laredo — has reached a fever pitch this year, with casualties including top law enforcement officials and elected officials. From what I’ve read, The Dallas Morning News seems to have had the best coverage of tumult.
So is the Mexican government winning its permanent fight? They think so:
When pressed for evidence that Mexico is winning this war, law enforcement authorities talked about the tens of thousands of drug dealers they have put behind bars, the hundreds of suspicious police officers and prison guards dismissed from duty and the thousands of federal police officers and soldiers sent to patrol cities all along the border.
No mention was made as to its plans to keep others from filling the void left by decapitating the heads of drug trafficking operations. Nuevo Laredo is the modern day equivalent of Chicago in the heyday of alcohol prohibition, and the cycle of violence is all but certain to continue as violent cartels engage in internecine warfare.
Vincente Fox is right to look north of the border when talking about his nation’s drug war crisis. He asks, “What happens to all the drugs that enter the United States?” But he must look to misguided American policies, not simply drug consumption, as the direct cause of his country’s carnage.
President Fox would commit a consummate act of political courage if he articulated this. It is also highly unlikely. From the standpoint of politicians, of whatever national origin, it is far better to bathe in their own blustery rhetoric and slam their fists on tables at opportune moments than to provide actual leadership.
Posted by Nikos Leverenz.
Read More…
